Fears continue for local shows

Julian West, DEFRA's head of exotic diseases, told a meeting of the National Association of Show and Agricultural Organisers that the government's fears about foot-and-mouth and other livestock diseases meant little was likely to change between now and next summer's show season.

All but a few of the agricultural shows in and around South Lakeland reluctantly took the decision this year to hold events without the traditional attraction of livestock because of the stringent bio-security rules.

The prestigious Westmorland County Show was one of the few to go ahead with stock, but meeting the biosecurity burden cost organisers around £15,000.

The Westmorland Agricultural Society is large enough to bear the cost but many of the area's smaller shows may struggle.

Society chief executive Rodger Read was at the meeting in Cheshire where Mr West dropped the bombshell on show organisers.

He explained that it was not just the extra cost to societies which would jeopardise smaller shows and pointed out that many events were held on land lent or leased by farmers, but the requirement that livestock areas be quarantined before and after show day may deter many from allowing their land to be used.

Also, potential exhibitors may be put off showing their stock by costly on-farm quarantine rules and the complicated paper trail surrounding show stock.

That could mean exhibitors choose not to show stock at all while others may be forced to attend fewer shows and go only to the larger events.

Valerie Lawson, secretary of Bentham Show, said: "We are hoping that the DEFRA rules will be relaxed and we can have livestock.

I do not see why the bio-security rules should be in place when foot-and-mouth has long since gone."

Mrs Lawson, herself a farmer from Oak Bank Farm, at Bentham, feared farmers simply would not compete at such events if restrictions remained.

She said that last year the society had left the decision on whether to include animals in the show to the very last minute and asked exhibitors if they were interested, and decided in the end to go ahead without stock because most had been deterred by the restrictions.

At its AGM this week, Bentham Show Society decided to go ahead with next year's event on September 6, hoping for significant relaxation of DEFRA's requirements, but Mrs Lawson warned: "If the rules do not alter, it is going to kill a lot of little shows."

Julian West was not available for comment but DEFRA spokesman Tony MacDougal told the Gazette this week that bio-security measures for shows and for farming in general were still under review but said he could not give any indication of government thinking at this stage.

Paul Hooper, secretary of the national show organisers association, said delegates at the meeting had voiced their concerns to Mr West about his indication that little would change by next year and hoped their comments would help inform the ministry's decisions on arrangements for shows.

During this year's show season, however, existing rules appear to have been applied differently across the UK.

According to Mr Read, shows in Scotland enjoyed lenient bio-security arrangements, raising the question of which restrictions, English or Scottish, should apply to Cumbrian farmers who choose to show, for instance, in Dumfries and Galloway.

DEFRA appears not to have addressed the issue and Mr Read said: "That's the sort of thing that makes the farming community raise an eyebrow about the whole system.

They do not mind being careful with bio-security, but when you can punch holes in it like that it just does not stand up."

The spectre of bio-security arrangements remaining can be added to a range of problems facing traditional shows including increased health and safety costs, falling gate receipts and growing overheads.

"It is just one more thing that is going to be the demise of shows," said Mr Read.